Canister with built-in measuring dispenser



Feb. 2, 1965 c. v. CAPERS CANISTER WITH BUILT-IN MEASURING DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 27, 1962 INVENT OR MJWX l m/2w Feb. 2, 1965 c. v. CAPERS CANISTER WITH BUILT-IN MEASURING DISPENSER Filed Sept. 27, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofiice 3,168,223 Patented Feb. 2, 1965 CANISTER WITH BUILT-IN MEASURING DISPENSER Claude V. Capers, 4313 Kemp Drive, Chattanooga, Tenn. Filed Sept. 27, 1962, Ser. No. 226,644 11 Claims. (Cl. 222-158) The present invention relates to containers and in par ticular to those of the canister type for holding fluent materials such as liquids but especially fluent solids such as powders or granular substances and wherein the canister is constructed with an integral or built-in dispensing device by means of which one is enabled to dispense measured quantities of the fluent material from the canister.

The dispensing part of the canister structure in accordance with the invention includes a transfer compartment in the form of a deep dished tray located within the upper part of the canister into which a supply of the fluent material i transferred from the main storage compartment formed by the lower interior part of the canister either by tilting or completely inverting the canister, a combined measuring and dispensing compartment open at its upper end to the exterior and located at a. lower level than the transfer oompartment,-and a door preferably in the form of a slide located in a wall portion of the canister separating the transfer compartment from the dispensing compartment, this door being openable to establish communication between the transfer compartment and the dispensing compartment and thereby permit the fluent material to flow by gravity from the transfer compartment into the dispensing compartment so long as the door is open. One or more scales suitably graduated such as in cups or fractions thereof, or tablespoons, or ounces, etc, are provided vertically along one or more Walls of the dispensing compartment, and the door is closed after the desired amount of the fluent material has been allowed to pour into the dispensing compartment. Thereafter, the canister is lifted and tilted so as to .pour out the measured amount from the upper, open end of the dispensing compartment.

As the canister is tilted to pour out the fluent material from the dispensing compartment, a fresh supply of the fluent material is caused to be transferred from the main storage space in the canister below the transfer compartment into the transfer compartment thus replenishing the latter in readiness for a subsequent dispensing operation.

Preferably, the canister wall structure includes two adjacent vertical walls which meet along an edge constituting a corner portion of the canister and the transfer compartment, door and dispensing compartments are built into this corner port-ion. As will become clearer in connection with the detailed description to follow of a preferred embodiment of the invention, this construction facilitates pouring out of the fluent contents from the dispensing compartment and also facilitates refilling of the transfer compartment. Also, when the canister structure is in the general form of a rectangular parallelepiped, by placing the dispensing components in one corner of the canister, a handle for the canister can be provided at the diagonally opposite corner portion thus establishing a balanced structure which facilitates handling and opera tion ofthe dispensing mechanism.

It is also preferable to selecta configuration for the dispensing compartment in which the cross section pnogressively increases with height from the bottom wall of that compartment. This improves the measuring accuracy of the device since it will result in a non-linear scale ofgraduations, the spacing between adjacent graduations progressively decreasing and the largest spacing therefore being in the lower range of amount to be measured so that greater accuracy for the smaller amounts measured is thereby obtained.

mi posed of a transparent material such 'as a plastic of suitable rigidity, or the wall structure can be composed of other materials such as metal or the like. However, it is preferable that at least that part of the dispensing partrnent associated with the graduated scale or scales be transparent so that the user can at all times see the level of the fluent material as it rises in the dispensing cornpartment.

The above-mentioned as well as other features of the improved dispensing canister in accordance with the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof and from the accompanying drawings. In these drawmgs:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of an embodiment of the invention wherein the canister is a rectangular para lelopiped in configuration, the view looking into the cor: ner portion containing the dispensing components of the canister;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken near the top wall of the canister, on line 2- -2 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of FIG. 2 taken along one diagonal of the canister through the corners containing the dispensing structure and the handle structure; and

FIG. 4 is also a vertical section on line 4+4 ofFIG. 3 looking from the interior of the canister towards the corner portion containing the dispensing components.

With reference now to the drawings, the body of the canister can be of any desired configuration but .pref' erably is in the form of a parallelepiped and particularly a generally rectangular and more particularly a quare parallelopiped as illustrated. Thus, the top and bottom walls 1 and 2 of the canister are rectangular and with all sides of equal length. As illustrated, the entire wall structure of the canister is transparent and can be made from a plastic material of appropriate transparency and rigidity. However, as previously explained other wall materials may be used for the canister structure. The four side walls of the canister are designated 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The top wall 1 is provided with an opening 7 for purposes of filling, and this opening is covered by a conventional cap 8.

The dispensing structure is preferably allocated to one corner' portion of the canister wall structure, ie the corner portion established by convergence of adjacent side walls '3 and 4 and which meet along the vertical edge 9. Generally speaking, the dispensing structure includes a transfer compartment 10 located in the upper interior portion of the canister, a combined measuring and dispensing compartment 11 located below the dispensing compartment but open to the exterior and a door' 12 lo cated in a wall portion of the canister separating the transfer compartment 10' from the dispensing compartment 1 1 by means of which one is enabled to effect a' gravity new of fluent material from the transfer compartment 10 to the dispensingcompartment 11.

The fluent material can be liquid, or it can be composed of solid particles such as a powder or granules; Examples of such fluent solid particles would "be' detergents, sugar, flour, coffee, tea, etc. The body of fluent material in the canister is indicated at 13' generally in FIG. 3 only. It has been omitted from the other figures of the drawing in order not to obstruct the view of th overall canister structure.

The storage compartment 10, located in the upper part of the corner portion-of the interior of the canister established by the converging walls 3, 4 and the meeting vertical edge 9 is seen to have-the general configuration of a deep dished tray. The tray includes-a pair of downward ly sloping bottom walls 1 4,: 15 which'meet alongane'dge entire wall structure of the canister be j wall 19 extends to the side walls 3 and 4 and is suitably secured to the latter so as to partially support the walls which form the tray constituting the transfer compartment 10. Also a portion of each of the bottom walls 14, 15 meet the corresponding side walls 3 and 4 and front wall and are secured to these walls. A discharge opening 20 is provided in the lower part of the front wall,

19 and this opening extends to the junction of wall 19 with the sloping bottom walls 14, 15. The door 12, previously referred to, is arranged to slide in grooves 21 provided along the sides of the opening 20. It will be seen that the bottommost point of the opening 20 inter: sects the lowermost point along the downwardly sloping edge 16 established by the junction of the downwardly sloping bottom walls 14, so that when the door 12 is opened by. withdrawing the same in an upwardly sloping manner, all of the fluent material which may have been initially in the transfer compartment 10 is capable of being withdrawn by gravity flow through the discharge opening 20. Moreover, discharge opening includes a V-shaped' pouring lip established by the lowermost portions of the bottom walls 14, 15 and this assures a more steady flow of the fluent material 13 from'the transfer compartment 10 to the measuring and dispensing compartment'll. The effective area of the discharge opening 20 can be adjusted by adjusting the degree to which the door 12 is slid open since the lower edge of the door effects one boundary of the discharge opening, the other boundaries of the discharge opening being established by the front edges of the bottom walls 14, 15 only when the door 12 is only opened slightly, thus providing a comparatively small, triangular shaped opening for effecting small rates of flow, and the boundaries of the effective discharge opening including also parts of the parallel side edges of the opening 20 itself when the door is slid. open to a further extent thus providing a comparatively larger area opening for effecting. greater rateso'f flow of the fluent material 13 from the'transfcr compartment 10. The measuring and dispensing compartment is established by a back wall 22 having a trapezoidal configuration located in the corner portion f the: canister and which. is set back fromthe "vertical edge 9. The back wall 22 slopes away from the vertical edge 9 with increasing height and the bottom edge 23 of this back wall 22, which is the shortest of the two parallel sides of the trapezoid, meets the bottom wall 2 of the canister to establish a right triangular bottom forthe measuring and dispensing compartment 11. The two non-parallel side edges 24, 25 of the trapezoidal wall 22 diverge upwardly and meet the side walls 3 and 4'respectively of the canister and are securedLto these walls. The top edge 26 of wall 22 is parallel to the bottom edge 23 and joins with the lower edge of the front wall '19. Thus, it will be seen that the dispensing compartment is established princi-. pally by .a triangular bottom wall portion constituting a portion of the bottom wall 2 of the canister, and three side wall portions, two of these being portions of the vertical side walls 3 and 4 of the canister and the third being the sloping wall 22. Because of the sloping character of wall 22, the wall portions 3 and 4 being vertical, one therefore obtains a dispensing compartment in which the cross-section increases progressively in the upward direction. This establishes a non-linear measuring characteristic in the measuring and dispensing compartment in which the lower ranges of. quantities measured in the compartment 11 involve rather expanded scale units of measurement and hence, provide for greater measuring accuracy in these lower ranges.

. One or more scales of measurement may be provided upwardly along the side walls of compartment 11. The present embodiment of the invention includes two such scales 27 and 28 located adjacent the edge 9 on the canister side walls 3 and 4 respectively. Scale 27 is graduated in fractions of a cup up to a maximum of 1 cup and scale 28 is graduated in tablespoons. Due to the non-linear filling characteristics of the measuring and dispensing compartment, the scale divisions on both scales are likewise non-linear and the two scales contact as measured in a direction upward from the bottom of the compartment.

As previously explained, the upper end of the dispens ing compartment 11 is open to enable the measured quantity of the fluent material 13 to be poured out as the canister is tilted. This pour. opening 29 is established by an upwardly sloping cut-back along side wall 3 to estab-' lish an edge 30 and a similar upwardly sloping cut-back along side wall 4 to establish another edge 31, the lower ends of these two edges meeting at the corner edge 9 to establish a V-shaped pouring lip. These two side walls 3 and 4 are also cut back from the corner edge 9 in a downwardly sloping manner along edges 32, 33 to meet the sides of the front wall 19 of transfer compartment 10 and permit the necessary sliding movement of door 12.

For handling the canister, the invention provides a straight handle 34 extending vertically adjacent the edge 18 which is diagonally opposite the edge 9 at which the measuring and dispensing organization is located. This provides for balance in handling the canister. The cylindrical handle 34, as illustrated, is accommodated in a cut-back portion of the canister wall established by a vertical wall part 35, the lower end of the handle 34 being secured to a triangular horizontal wall part 36 spaced upwardly from the bottom wall 2 and the upper end of handle 34 being secured to the underside of the corner portion of the upper canister wall 1. Sufficient clearance to accommodate the fingers is provided between handle 34 and the wall part 35.

The manner in which the canister is operated to measure out a desired amount of the fluent contents and dispose of the same is believed to be understood from the detailed description which has been given. However, in brief summary, for purposes of clarification, the canister is filled with the fluent material 13 through opening 7 after removal of the cap 8 which is then replaced. The canister is then either tilted downwardly in the direction of the corner edge 9 or completely inverted so that a sufficient volume of the fluent contents is transferred into the transfer compartment 10 to enable the user to meas ure out and dispense the amount desired. The door 12 is then drawn upwardly to uncover the discharge opening 20 and the fluent material 13' will then flow downwardly by gravity into the' lower positioned measuring and dispensing compartment 11. By observing the buildup of the fluent material in compartment 11 on the particular scale desired to be used, the door 12 will then be reclosed when the level of the fluent material reaches the particular graduation line corresponding to the amount to be dispensed. After door 12 has been re-closed, the canister is lifted by handle 34 and tilted forward to pour out the contents from the dispensing compartment 11 through opening 29. At the same time that the canister is tilted to pour out the measured quantity of fluent material, a fresh supply of the fluent material will be transferred from main storage space in the canister into the transfer compartment or tray 10 thus replenishing the latter and readying the canister for the next dispensing operation. Replenishing of the transfer compartment is facilitated by virtue of the fact that the side edges of the bottom walls 14, 15 in part terminate at a distance from theside walls 3 and 4 of the canister thus facilitating flow of the fluent material 13 into compartment 10 through the spaces thus formed between walls 3, 4 and 14, 15.

In conclusion, it is desired to pointout that while the foregoing embodiment of the inventionis to be preferred,

various modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of the component parts without, however, departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A canister structure for storing and dispensing fluent materials in selected measured amounts, said canister structure including at least one upright interior corner portion established by two convergent upright side walls thereof, a transfer compartment and a combined measuring and dispensing compartment located in said corner portion, said upright side walls forming parts of the walls of at least one of said compartments, said transfer compartment being located in the upper part of said corner portion and adapted to be filled with fluent material from the supply stored within the canister by at least tilting the canister, said combined measuring and dispensing compartment being openable at its upper end to the ex terior of the canister wall structure and being located in said corner portion at a level below said transfer compartment and having at least one graduated scale thereon, and a door controlling communication between said transfer compartment and said combined measuring and dispensing compartment, said door being openable to initiate gravity flow discharge of the fluent material from said transfer compartment into said combined measuring and dispensing compartment, and said door being closable to cut E flow of the fluent material when the amount of the fluent material desired to be dispensed has been discharged into said combined measuring and dispensing compartment, said fluent material then being poured out of the upper end of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment by a second tilting action of said canister.

2. A canister structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the horizontal cross section of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment increases progressively in the upward direction.

3. A canister structure as defined in claim 1 and where in said combined measuring and dispensing compartment further includes a third wall extending across said corner portion between said two upright side walls and which latter also form other wall parts of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment.

4. A canister structure as defined in claim 3 wherein said third wall of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment slopes upwardly in a direction away from said corner portion to establish a cross section for said combined measuring and dispensing compartment which progressively increases in the upward direction.

5. A canister structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said two convergent upright side walls form parts of the walls of said transfer compartment as well as parts of the walls of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment, and said transfer compartment also includes other walls which slope in a downward converging manner to establish a downwardly sloping discharge trough outwardly from said transfer compartment when said door is opened.

6. A canister structure as defined in claim 5 and Wherein said combined measuring and dispensing compartment includes a third wall extending across said corner portion established by said two upright side walls.

7. A canister structure as defined in claim 6 wherein said third wall of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment slopes upwardly in a direction away from said corner portion to establish a cross section for said combined measuring and dispensing compartment which progressively increases in the upward direction.

8. A canister structure as defined in claim 1 having a wall configuration corresponding generally to a rectangular parallelepiped and which includes a handle at one corner portion diagonally opposite the corner portion in which said transfer compartment and said combined measuring and dispensing compartment are located.

9. A canister structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said two convergent upright side walls form parts of the walls of said transfer compartment as Well as parts of the walls of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment, and said transfer compartment further includes a downwardly sloping front wall in which said door is slidably supported and other walls which slope in a downwardly converging manner to establish a downwardly sloping discharge trough outwardly from said transfer compartment when said door is opened.

10. A canister structure as defined in claim 9 and wherein said combined measuring and dispensing compartment includes a third wall extending across said corner portion between said two convergent upright side walls.

11. A canister structure as defined in claim 10 and wherein said third wall of said combined measuring and dispensing compartment slopes upwardly in a direction away from said corner portion to establish a cross section for said measuring and dispensing compartment which progressively increases in the upward direction,

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,025,796 12/35 Waldheim 222-456 X 2,791,352 5/ 57 Roper. 3,148,804 9/64 James 222-443 X RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Primary Exqminer, LOU J DEM Q fl i fi 

1. A CANISTER STRUCTURE FOR STORING AND DISPENSING FLUENT MATERIALS IN SELECTED MEASURED AMOUNTS, SAID CANISTER STRUCTURE INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE UPRIGHT INTERIOR CORNER PORTION ESTABLISHED BY TWO CONVERGENT UPRIGHT SIDE WALLS THEREOF, A TRANSFER COMPARTMENT AND A COMBINED MEASURING AND DISPENSING COMPARTMENT LOCATED IN SAID CORNER PORTION, SAID UPRIGHT SIDE WALS FORMING PARTS OF THE WALLS OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID COMPARTMENTS, SAID TRANSFER COMPARTMENT BEING LOCATED IN THE UPPER PART OF SAID CORNER PORTION AND ADAPTED TO BE FILLED WITH FLUENT MATERIAL FROM THE SUPPLY STORED WITHIN THE CANISTER BY AT LEAST TILTING THE CANISTER, SAID COMBINED MEASURING AND DISPENSING COMPARTMENT BEING OPENABLE AT ITS UPPER END TO THE EXTERIOR OF THE CANISTER WALL STRUCTURE AND BEING LOCATED IN SAID CORNER PORTION AT A LEVEL BELOW SAID TRANSFER COMPARTMENT AND HAVING AT LEAST ONE GRADUATED SCALE THEREON, AND A DOOR CONTROLLING COMMUNICATING BETWEEN SAID TRANSFER COMPARTMENT AND SAID COMBINED MEASURING SAID DISPENSING COMPARTMENT, SAID DOOR BEING OPENABLE TO INITIATE GRAVITY FLOW DISCHARGE O THE FLUENT MATERIAL FROM SAID TRANSFER COMPARTMENT INTO SAID COMBINED MEASURING 